Pages

Friday, July 03, 2015

The hidden camera in the voting booth

The secret ballot has been a fixture of American democracy since the late 19C. But in two blue states (Washington, Oregon), absentee ballots are the only way of voting.

Just think about that for a moment. Suppose there's an election in which the party in power retains power. Most of the incumbents are reelected.

But in a state like Washington and Oregon, that means the party in power knows exactly who voted against it. The party in power knows exactly who all their political opponents are. They know the name, phone number, address, &c., of everyone who cast a ballot to vote them out of office. It's like having a hidden camera in the voting booth.

This isn't hypothetical. A few years ago there was a disputed gubernatorial election in Washington. There was a recount. State employees went door-to-door to question voters on the ballot they cast.

Just consider the potential abuse of power. How the party in power could retaliate. It's worse than having the donor list for the opposition party.

And imagine officials sharing that information with campaign consultants. They can do microlevel demographics on the electorate.

Liberals talk about the "right of privacy," but they don't respect it.